In an era of high parental oversight (helicopter parents, snowplow parents), what messages can resonate for your teams and you?
Sharpen the axe. "If I had eight hours to cut down a tree, I'd spend the first six sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln The ongoing debate about practice versus games seldom includes this advice. Writers outline, directors use a storyboard, and great players hone their craft before plying it.
Don't punch down. Although Erik Spoelstra reminds us, "there is always a pecking order," the best at the top don't punch down. Jayson Tatum remarked this week about Al Horford's value not only as a player but as his favorite teammate.
“He was somebody who really took me under their wing and I just always remembered he would periodically and at random times throughout my first year ask me how I am doing, how I am adjusting. He was somebody I really respected in the way that he went about his work. He was never late, always getting in his work at the gym, always taking care of his body.”
Be the tortoise. Everyone knows Aesop's fable about the metaphorical race between the speedy hare and the plodding tortoise. "Slow and steady wins the race." This excerpt from a 2019 post illustrates:
Lagniappe: The race may go to the most persistent not the fastest. 61 year-old ultramarathoner Cliff Young won the Sydney to Melbourne 543 mile race not by running faster but by running while others slept.
"You just gotta keep going."
"The movie is made in the editing room." - Ron Howard How we create, assemble, and revise our material is what the audience judges. How we do that gets measured for artistic, emotional, and technical excellence.
"Be the Man in the Arena." It's easier to be the critic, the outsider, the chorus.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
―
Coaching is never easy. Neither is inspiring. After a Celtics win over Toronto recently, Coach Joe Mazzulla said, "we weren't the best version of ourselves." Statistically and practically, we can't be at our absolute best every day. But we can "show up" and "give our best." That's a choice.
Lagniappe. It's hard to carve out time during the season.
Post by @kpstrengthView on Threads
🎥 Kobe on Toughness.
— Greg Berge (@gb1121) November 18, 2023
"The biggest battle you have is with yourself."
- Be Tough.
- Be Persistent.
- Be Purposeful.
- Compete each day with yourself.
“Don’t talk to yourself in a negative way.”
Video Credit -> Kobe Bryant Highlight pic.twitter.com/1gjakxmoV5